They are turning to their peers, trusted websites and professionals to:

• Seek education and support about treatments and what to expect with surgery.
• Consult online reviews, stories, and posts about outcomes and experiences.
• Read informational articles for tips to help with obstacles and/or long term success.

Your patients want to be able to connect with you. They want to read your tips, office updates and read the articles that you’re sharing. We’re here to help you make sure you can connect with your patients on and off ObesityHelp.com.

If you have social media accounts set-up that you would like your patients to follow, you can highlight them on your ObesityHelp Sponsored profile so that your patients can easily connect with you.

To add your Social Media Accounts:

1. Sign in to your ObesityHelp Professional account.
2. Under the General tab of your account, enter in the full URL to your preferred social media accounts.
   
3. Click the “Save” button.
4. Your social icons will appear at the top of your profile, inline with the “Write Review” button.

Over 600 bariatric patients were asked, “In thinking about how doctors treat their weight loss surgery patients, what do you wish your doctor would have done differently?” Their responses reveal that we have many opportunities for improvement, and little details make all the difference.

Physician Sensitivity is Critical to Patient Satisfaction

The bariatric population is a special one; after years of being exposed to stigma and discrimination, many patients are emotionally raw and sensitive. As a physician, if your goal is to achieve the best outcome for your patients and your practice, try implementing these small steps to make sure your patients feel comfortable.

Choose your words carefully.

Bariatric clients are especially sensitive to language. After enduring years of jokes and jabs, they critically analyze conversations for hints of negativity or judgment. Therefore, how you word a statement may make the difference between bonding with a patient or pushing them away. Choose descriptors and adjectives that have a more positive connotation; avoid anything that has a negative thrust. For example, describe something as “oversized” or “extended” as opposed to “giant” or “huge.”

Select credible and approachable staff.

A young, attractive, super-slim nutritionist who has never had a weight problem will be viewed as less credible than an experienced staff member who can share real life experience and advice for dealing with the challenges of weight loss. Most bariatric patients report feeling comfortable when there is at least one person who works in the office who is also overweight.

Communicate clearly.

Meet new patients in your office first, then take them to the exam room. Look your patients in the eye. Talk carefully about their health history and ask questions empathetically. Offer to answer any questions and ask if there is anything they do not understand. Often, a little encouragement will give your patients the confidence they need to ask questions they have. One WLS patient explained, “My surgeon sketched a picture for me of what exactly he was going to do. I know I had previously seen diagrams of the pouch, etc. … but it really helped me to understand visually as he was explaining things.”

Have appropriate and comfortable equipment.

Furniture for bariatric patients should be solid, sturdy, comfortably-sized, and safe. Select equipment and office tools that are appropriate for this population for every area of your office your patients will go. One bariatric patient wrote: “Did you know that I purchased my own weight extender for the standard bar slide scale that most doctors use. The cost? Around $60. Even if I’m your only ‘oversized’ patient, isn’t my health and well-being worth $60 to you?”

Develop scale sensitivity.

Invest in a bariatric scale or equipment that allows your scale to accommodate overweight patients, weigh the patients in a private area, and never, ever yell out a patient’s weight to other office staff members. A recent WLS post-op wrote: “Scale sensitivity would be a plus not just for bariatric offices but for all offices. Last week I got on the scale and the nurse yelled out, ‘225 pounds.’ I teach in a small town and one of my students was in the waiting room, so now all my students know how much I weigh. Just weigh me and write it down in the chart, thank you.”

Don’t send mixed messages.

You can’t get away with saying “I really care about your difficulties with weight and I know how hard it is for you” when you have posters of nearly-perfect models all over the place. Make sure your staff, office décor, and imagery reflect caring and consideration. Case in point: a bariatric client went to a physician’s office and reported the following: “When I went to my doctor’s office I already felt like a cow. I looked around and saw all California beach blonde types. This made me know they had no clue; they had no idea what I had experienced, and I felt fatter and more uncomfortable.”

Train your staff to do the same.

As you are not likely to be the first person your patients encounter, your entire office needs to be trained to be sensitive in the ways described. Most patients report that their first impression of a physician came from his or her receptionist. Therefore, we must make sure everyone in our offices understands that every patient is our concern, that no patient should be ridiculed or treated as unimportant.

One of the most important aspects of marketing yourself is understanding who you are trying to reach with your message. If you have specific information on your target demographic–age, gender, income, race, home ownership, education, employment status and type–then use that to develop a “typical patient profile.” If you do not know who your target demographic is, your staff can compile this information by reviewing the patient charts of your last 100 to 200 bariatric procedures.

Chances are, the individuals in your target demographic will have particular likes and dislikes, behavioral patterns and values in common that you can refer to when making decisions about how to present your practice. For example, the images and language you would use to sell your message to 20- to 30-year-old professionals will be very different than those you would use to reach 30- to 40-year-old stay-at-home moms. Each demographic has its own characteristics, and getting to really know your target demographic is one of the most important things you can do to promote yourself effectively.

2. Create a Patient-Friendly Website

Once you know who your patients are, put yourself in their shoes. When looking online for a surgeon, what will entice them to contact you? Your credentials, experience with
bariatric procedures and specialties are all important and should be easily accessible in your promotional materials, but these facts should not be the only thing the patients see. Just as you must get to know your demographic, you must help them get to know you as more than just a skilled surgeon. Energy spent creating additional patient resources is well spent, as long as the content is informative, yet not too technical. Your website is for patients, not other clinicians. Use the same language you would use to describe procedures if the patient were sitting with you in your office.

Once your website is developed, ask yourself these questions as if you were the patient:

• Am I motivated to take the leap into bariatric surgery?
• Does this doctor seem knowledgeable and experienced?
• Does this doctor make me feel comfortable?
• Is this doctor someone I can be honest with?
• Do I have a good understanding of surgical alternatives?
• Does the doctor have a supportive staff that can help me with my insurance and other issues?
• Are there testimonials from other patients who have good experiences with this doctor?

Once you feel you have solid website content developed, survey your target demographic. Contact a few previous patients and ask them to check out your website and let you know of any comments they may have. These are the perfect people to offer honest suggestions that can help you create a sensitive, patient-focused website. Use their opinions to make the proper adjustments to convey a safe, optimistic and accurate message to your patients.

3. Maximize your Ability to Empathize

Most bariatric patients have been plagued by unresolved weight issues for most of their lives. They may be very unhappy with the trials they have faced as a result of these issues, and many have felt disconnected from people and may have difficulty trusting others. Your challenge, as their doctor, is to gain their trust. You can do this by empathizing with their situation. Let them know that you understand how hard it must be to overweight and commend them for making the choice to change. Building empathy into your patient conversations is one of the most productive ways to build patient rapport. Think of every interaction with a patient as a personal testimonial for you and an opportunity to gain a personal advocate. Many highly-qualified surgeons who find themselves with relatively few cases tend to be focused on themselves rather than on their patients. These are the physicians who treat their patients like they should feel privileged to be getting surgery from such a great doctor. While they may indeed be fantastic clinicians, this type of mentality does not lend itself to good first impressions.

The most successful bariatric professionals are those who take the time to get to know their patients and remain involved in their lives throughout their weight loss journeys. Most bariatric patients on ObesityHelp.com are either very happy or very unhappy with their surgeons–there is seldom a middle ground. Ninety percent of the time, patient satisfaction comes down to how they were treated as a pre-operative patient. Take the time to evaluate how you are dealing with each patient and adjust accordingly. Remember, the successful bariatric practices get the majority of their leads through the glowing testimonials of previous patients.

4. Develop Friendly, Supportive Office Staff

Your office staff members are your front line for patient care. They have the ability to set the tone and adjust the office atmosphere. It’s a good policy to make sure your staff treats your patients as well as you do, even when it comes to difficult tasks like insurance issues and enforcing proper aftercare.

Let your office staff be responsible for encouraging happy patients to write testimonials about their experience on your website or on ObesityHelp.com. We know that positive testimonials are a great way to increase referrals. We have also seen patients on ObesityHelp.com say that they have been turned off from a particular bariatric program because they felt that the staff members lacked compassion or were unfriendly. Happy patients tell their friends and family about the life-changing experience they had with you and your office, so encourage your staff to help make every visit an excellent visit.

5. Fish Where the Fish Are Biting

Potential bariatric patients lead particular lifestyles, and you should adjust your marketing plans accordingly. Think about or learn what your patients do in their spare time and their preferred methods of gleaning information, and then choose the most effective places to reach them.

With the advent of the Internet and online shopping, many morbidly obese people have found it more convenient and comfortable to do most of their shopping and socializing from their own homes. Knowing that, explore ways to talk to potential patients through online platforms. Formal advertising is an important component of your marketing plan, but there are also other opportunities that you may not be utilizing. For example, on ObesityHelp.com, you will notice that there are many people asking surgery-related questions on the message boards. Take some time  and answer a few questions. You will be surprised how answering a few questions can really get your name out there! Many members who are “shopping” for a surgeon will make their first contact with a surgeon on the message boards. It’s free, it can be done at your convenience, and it is a good opportunity to make a great first impression.

6. Blaze New Trails

Do you have a random or wacky idea for your practice, website or marketing literature? Is it something you’ve noticed is missing from your current offerings, and hasn’t been done before? Just because your colleagues have not done something doesn’t mean it isn’t a good idea. Unconventional ideas can be some of the best ideas because they are unique and can set your practice apart from others.

Find ways to participate in community events that will help your name and face to become familiar to people in your area. Organize short seminars in your office and serve specialty food products that you may recommend be incorporated in their post-operative diet. Invite a special speaker–a past patient, a local chef, a nutritionist or a yoga teacher–to present at support group meetings. Host social events that foster relationships between your staff and your patients. Remember, happy patients are your best marketing vehicle!

7. Reach Out Through Video

Patients are consumers. Consumers, on the whole, tend to be buying more goods and service online, and it is relatively simple now to provide online information in a wide array of formats. One easy way to introduce yourself to potential patients is through video on your website. Video is more personal than text and allows potential patients to see and hear you without making an appointment or leaving home, which makes them feel comfortable learning more about your practice, and you–a professional they will come to trust. Aim to have some sort of introductory video on your website and on your ObesityHelp profile, and update it periodically to keep it fresh and accurate.

As with the other marketing tools, review and get feedback on the video from a typical patient perspective: would prospective patient “Mary Smith” want to make an appointment with me after watching my video? Have I given her enough information that would make her choose me as her surgeon? What other visual elements will appeal to 25- to 45-year-old women who are struggling with their weight? Ideally, your video should be warm and inviting without over-promising or sugar-coating the truth. Consumers today are cautious, and bariatric patients in general have trust issues. Be up-front, genuine and realistic while maintaining a friendly demeanor to attract consumers.

8. Connect With Local PCPs

Most primary care physicians (PCPs) encounter a fair amount of obese patients, and are usually the first point of reference when patients begin investigating bariatric surgery. Unfortunately, many PCPs shy away from bariatric surgery as treatment from morbid obesity. As an industry, we need to begin communicating with PCPs and viewing them as allies in the treatment of obesity. Teaching PCPs about the benefits of bariatric surgery can be a tough task. Fortunately, ObesityHelp works with PCPs from all over the country to educate them on the benefits of bariatric surgery, so you will not be alone in your efforts. You can do your part by reaching out to the PCPs in your local area and explaining the merits of a surgical approach, especially as research reveals new benefits. Most PCPs are not as well-versed in the reduction of obesity comorbidities after bariatric surgery as you are. You can bet that this sort of sharing of information can help you form an enriching partnership and a new referral stream.

The Power of Patient Testimonials

Potential bariatric surgery candidates need to know what they can expect when they choose you as their surgeon. Your previous patient testimonials give prospective patients evidence from the mouths of those who have already chosen you as their surgeon. They want to know you are a confident and competent bariatric surgeon. A barrage of self-promotion on your Website will not win their hearts and minds; the evidence is in the results you produce from testimonials of your previous patients.

People connect with stories, spoken or written, that convey a truly personal experience. For those who are morbidly obese, reading or hearing success stories from their peers can be empowering and generate visions of the same success. Positive testimonials can mitigate fears about weight loss surgery, comfort families and increase patients’ confidence in your services. If you are like most bariatric surgeons, the vast majority of your patients are pleased with the results of their WLS and more than happy to express their delight; testimonials from patients like these have tremendous marketing value.

The small percentage of patients who are dissatisfied with their experience should not discourage you from embracing the testimonial. Regardless of the number of years you have been practicing, the quality of services and expertise you offer or the number of successful bariatric surgeries you have performed, there is always going to be someone who is unhappy and compelled to voice that opinion.

Even a negative testimonial can be valuable: one surgeon in the Northeast reported to Bariatrics Today that if it weren’t for patient testimonials, he wouldn’t have known his receptionist was doing an unsatisfactory job. She had been frankly rude to patients and had done little to support them emotionally in the insurance approval battle. As a result, several of his patients had blamed his office, rather than their health plan, for their bad experiences. Their testimonials motivated this surgeon to provide more training for the receptionist before further damage was done to his practice’s image.

Here are some sample patient testimonials from a surgeon’s online profile:

Hello, I was excited when I met Dr. Hoehn. He was so reassuring and made me feel good about my decision to have the surgery. He has been open and honest about the whole procedure and about everything that will go on after the surgery. He never held anything back. He came to me right before the surgery to make sure that it was still what I wanted and made me feel at peace about going into the surgery. His bedside manner was fabulous pre & post-op. On a scale of 1 to 10 I would give him and his staff an 11! I would recommend the program that he offers to anyone in the world. Jeanette S., Kearney, MO

My two sisters [and I] had Dr. Hoehn perform their Lap RNY with great success. He is one of the most thoughtful, considerate people I know. God gave him a talent and praise God he is using it to save lives. What can I say about the man who saved my life? His before/after care program is probably the best in the country. It’s nice to know that Dr. Hoehn wants to know how your total health is–spiritually, mentally as well as physically. He explained to me what risk I was taking several times. He doesn’t seem to be in this for the money, but to save lives. He truly takes an interest in his patients. He has a WONDERFUL bedside manner… Dr. Hoehn says he gets lots of hugs from him patients, and now I know why! Donie P., Kansas City, MO

My first impression of Dr Hoehn was, wow–he is a youngster. But after my visit with him you just feel the security that he is very knowledgeable and had the best bed side manner of any of the surgeons I’ve ever had. His staff is not only the best but very knowledgeable as well. Anyone that is pursuing this surgery would be very happy with the staff and Dr. Hoehn. If any problems arose after surgery all you had to do was call the office and someone was readily available to assist you. I rate Dr. Hoehn a 12 on a scale of 1 to 10. He is off the scale of competence and along with his bedside manner he’s a great guy. Linda W., Kansas City, MO

Real Stories from Real People

Rather than viewing testimonials in terms of “good” and “bad,” one might say that their confidence-boosting power lies in their realism. A typical patient, when asked to describe her  surgeon, might start by discussing how the surgeon’s office is. Maybe the staff was impressive, but the office was inconveniently far away from her house or she winds up describing her child’s birthday party that same day.

While this clutter may seem to defeat the purpose of an efficient review for other readers, it does something far more precious: it confirms the person’s legitimacy as a real patient, not a marketing professional employed by the surgeon. These plentiful contextual details that humanize their fellow patients attract prospective patients more than the flashy all-positive of typical media advertising. When it comes time to researching major life-altering decisions, the best patients a surgeon could want are the ones most interested in nitty-gritty realism.

Many people are wary of anything that appears “too good to be true,” so a few critical testimonials can actually help you by making your image more realistic. We’ve had surgeons call in to us–literally–and ask if there is something we could do to actually help get at least one negative review up on their profile. One surgeon’s patients had seen something like 15 out of 15 glowing reviews–all legitimate–but had suspected that the surgeon had somehow been rigging them. In fact, in this example, the surgeon didn’t even know the testimonials existed until his patients brought them to his attention.

Making the Most of Online Testimonials

The Internet is the most prominent arena for WLS patients and prospective patients to seek information, express their opinions and share their personal experiences. ObesityHelp.com, for example, has tens of thousands of members who discuss WLS on a daily basis. People rarely say things on the Internet that they aren’t already saying face-to-face. Successful bariatric surgery practices and hospital bariatric surgery programs realize this and use Internet reviews to generate practice-building patient testimonials, and recognize the potential to use these testimonials as an early warning sign that trouble may be brewing in more conventional word-of-mouth circles.

As long as the Internet is home to groups of peers who genuinely seek good information and wish to share good information with others, this will exert a self-regulatory effect. Misleading messages will always be out there on the fringes, but more and more surgeons and allied bariatric professionals are encouraging their patients to post online and are pulling in many additional patients as a result of their testimonials.

Prospective WLS pre-ops genuinely wanting to make good decisions about their lives and bodies will prioritize information from reputable sources. If you provide a source of solid information, these patients will use it.

The ideal information source should:

• be sponsored by your practice
• include educational materials to increase the likelihood that patients who are perusing the site will approach what they read with the facts about surgery in mind–such as what constitutes a complication and what can be reasonably expected in terms of results
• provide opportunities for patients to interact with each other via message boards or blogs
• feature contributions from all professionals in the practice
• offer a reasonable level of moderation, either by staff or a Webmaster. Patients do not and should not believe you are perfect; it is reasonable to expect patients to post about issues they would like to see improved or about problems they have had, but malicious, abusive or extreme behaviors should not be tolerated.

Perhaps the greatest threat Internet testimonial groups pose for clinicians is to their productive focus. Most clinicians entered their fields because they wanted to become very good at providing specialized forms of help, and they want to spend their time helping patients, not worrying about legal issues and PR. Many surgeons’ objections to provider testimonials are driven by a sense of frustration that they have to contend with the issue in the first place. Life used to be a lot simpler.

The Internet provides powerful tools for good and bad, but the online phenomenon has a life and momentum of its own, driven by consumer demands for information, and it must be reckoned with. Fortunately, several respected organizations, such as ObesityHelp.com, can help professionals in the bariatric community establish their own online presence.

There are many advantages to aligning yourself with these organizations:

• association with these organizations increases your credibility
• these organizations may afford you access to their strong, growing online communities
• members who join the community often have the ability to upload pictures, bios, contact info and stories, creating a more personal environment educational materials are abundant
• these organizations can “referee” your message boards for you, filtering out malicious content
• print publications are also frequently available
• visitors to the sites can search for bariatric professionals in their area, linking them directly to your practice and online community
• you are able to interact with patients on a daily basis

Embrace the testimonial, but do it right. Establish your online presence and encourage your patients to be active participants. Let them know how much you appreciate their openness and honesty about their experiences with your practice–especially when they have found success and excellent care–and show them where to go to share that information with others. Your patients are enjoying success, and they can be your greatest resource in extending the possibility of success to others.